This is a multi-part blog looking at the Orange Pi R2S Single Board Computer running Linux. This extremely inexpensive computer features a RISC-V processor, four wired network ports (two 2.5G ethernet ports and two 1G ethernet ports), 8GB eMMC flash onboard storage, and no video output.
For this article in the series, I’ll focus on the power consumption of the Orange Pi R2S. I’ll see how the Orange Pi R2S compares to a few other single board computers and mini PCs which cost considerably more.
I’ll begin with power consumption when each of the machines are left idle.
Explanation of the legends used in the chart below:
RV2 – Orange Pi RV2 (RISV-V architecture)
RPI5 – Raspberry Pi 5 (ARM architecture)
R2S – Orange Pi R2S (RISC-V architecture)
N95 – Intel N95 (x86_64 architecture)
N100 – Intel N100 (x86_64 architecture)
Max – Orange Pi 5 Max (ARM architecture)
i7-1360P – Intel i7-1360P (x86_64 architecture)
BPI-F3 – Banana Pi BPi-F3 (RISC-V architecture)
The Orange Pi R2S power consumption is extremely low, only beaten by the Orange Pi 5 Max and the Orange Pi RV2.
The chart needs explanations to put the results into context.
- The chart measures the power consumption of each system (not only the CPU). It doesn’t include the power drawn by a monitor.
- All the machines have onboard graphics only with the exception of the Orange Pi R2S which has no video output.
- None of the machines have power management functionality built into the BIOS.
- The DreamQuest and Intel Mini PCs are using the Power Saver CPU governor. The Orange Pi 5 Max, the Orange Pi RV2, Orange Pi R2S and Raspberry Pi 5 are using their default settings with no underclocking. When idle the Orange Pi 5 Max runs at 408 MHz, Pi 5 runs at 1500 MHz. The Orange Pi RV2 and R2S run at 1600 MHz.
- WiFi and Bluetooth are enabled on all machines with the exception of the Orange Pi R2S which doesn’t have either. It’s possible to shave a little off the results but most users will probably want the standard settings enabled.
- The Max is running Ubuntu 22.04 (Jammy Jellyfish), while the RV2 is running Ubuntu 24.04.2 (Noble Numbat). The Orange Pi R2S is running Ubuntu Server 24.04. The Pi 5 is running the Raspberry Pi OS (which is based on Debian 12). The other machines are running Ubuntu 25.04.
Next page: Page 2 – Power Consumption With CPU Stressed
Pages in this article:
Page 1 – Power Consumption With System Idle
Page 2 – Power Consumption With CPU Stressed
Page 3 – Electricity Costs / Specifications
All articles in the series:
| Orange Pi R2S | |
|---|---|
| Introduction | Introduction to the series and interrogation of the R2S |
| Benchmarks | Benchmarking the R2S Single Board Computer |
| Power | Comparing the R2S power consumption with other SBCs and Mini PCs |